Indiblogeshwari forum -A significant part of me, turns a year old and it is celebration time!
This is a Sanjha - Chulha for women from all walks of life. Sanjha chulha for the uninitiated , has been an old tradition in rural Punjab where women gather to cook in a huge tandoor which they share with their neighbours .Women shared much more than food around these community stoves.They shared their grief and their joys . IB is pretty much the same for us, albeit virtual.What is cooked here is unbelievably interesting.The basic ingredient ( read- a random post) is provided by one woman from somewhere across the world and the flurry of activity has to be seen to be believed ! Food for thought is always more in supply than the demand so there are simple and exotic ingredients thrown in for good measure from all over the world by hyper excited bunch of women and the final dish turns out to be beyond anybody's imagination ! We can start a discussion from a book review and end it with dadi ma ka nuskha for acne ! The tandoor of this sanjha chulha is hot 24x7 and apart from fresh bread and what not being baked here ,what radiates in abundance from the chulha is warmth...and it is never in short supply.If you think the ladies do not indulge in leg pulling and the vessels are not flying around all over the place,you are hugely mistaken .You just do not hear the sound! Suddenly, during a tu-tu-main-main, someone mentions something interesting about a handsome hunk and the delicate fingers begin a mavali dance on the keyboards. Talk about one liberated group and you don't need to look any further.
The young and the old mingle here freely to exchange thoughts-kabhi gossip kabhi wisdom ! I have spent few of my most memorable afternoons with Vinita,Corinne and Janaki ,three key members of the IB gang.Thanks to them, I got my ROFLMAO days back after I last experienced those while in college.
'The Elusive One ' was the prompt given at the beginning of the month by the principal of IB college .I do not wish to be introduced to the vikral-avatar of lady Vinita Bahl ,so here I am back on my laptop after a month to blog about my elusive one.
Come April and my house helps, all three of them vanished for a long vacation. My daily grind and housework woes is not the subject matter of this post ,so you can relax and continue to read further :)
-I explored hidden corners in my own house and found stuff which I had forgotten completely about. Some things were found tied neatly inside a polythene bag and placed beneath the old printer .To think that the said object was on my priority 'to buy' list.
-I found so many wires and cables that if I lay them end to end ,I can connect it to a laptop as far as inside the airport lounge.
- I opened another polythene bag and the next few minutes were spent saving my head from crazy balls flying and bouncing crazily all around.I also realized that it was that simple to make my family laugh!!
-I found ALL my butterfly clips ! I do not need to mention here that they were part of another treasure in yet another plastic bag.
(The list is still under construction ...)
I realized that my full day house help had been stuffing things inside plastic bags all over the house, behind ,under and over the cupboards and lofts.All this, in the name of dusting and cleaning !What she thought was unimportant,promptly got stuffed and kept out of our sight and beyond our reach.
What I did next was to take leave from work ,make sure that Hobbs and son were lost in an interesting gadget exhibition for the whole day and then perform the most difficult task of throwing the unwanted stuff out of the house. The stuff was sorted and the objects that were out of sight for more than three months and were not missed ,were discarded. The Raddiwala was called on the sly and was instructed to take it all away as fast as he could. My home had lost a lot of weight and pleased as a punch on a great mission being successfully accomplished,I sat down with a cup of kadak chai .That is when Hobbs and son rang the doorbell.
The wires ,the non functional old printer and the broken Gameboy had found their way back home with the duo. Sigh!!
What I decided after this whole episode is that I ought to reduce my dependency on the house helps .Every now and then, from now on,I do this one job and many other odd ones around the house ,myself. I can not function without helps but I will definitely not lean on them completely. Your best wishes will be more than welcome :)
This is a Sanjha - Chulha for women from all walks of life. Sanjha chulha for the uninitiated , has been an old tradition in rural Punjab where women gather to cook in a huge tandoor which they share with their neighbours .Women shared much more than food around these community stoves.They shared their grief and their joys . IB is pretty much the same for us, albeit virtual.What is cooked here is unbelievably interesting.The basic ingredient ( read- a random post) is provided by one woman from somewhere across the world and the flurry of activity has to be seen to be believed ! Food for thought is always more in supply than the demand so there are simple and exotic ingredients thrown in for good measure from all over the world by hyper excited bunch of women and the final dish turns out to be beyond anybody's imagination ! We can start a discussion from a book review and end it with dadi ma ka nuskha for acne ! The tandoor of this sanjha chulha is hot 24x7 and apart from fresh bread and what not being baked here ,what radiates in abundance from the chulha is warmth...and it is never in short supply.If you think the ladies do not indulge in leg pulling and the vessels are not flying around all over the place,you are hugely mistaken .You just do not hear the sound! Suddenly, during a tu-tu-main-main, someone mentions something interesting about a handsome hunk and the delicate fingers begin a mavali dance on the keyboards. Talk about one liberated group and you don't need to look any further.
The young and the old mingle here freely to exchange thoughts-kabhi gossip kabhi wisdom ! I have spent few of my most memorable afternoons with Vinita,Corinne and Janaki ,three key members of the IB gang.Thanks to them, I got my ROFLMAO days back after I last experienced those while in college.
'The Elusive One ' was the prompt given at the beginning of the month by the principal of IB college .I do not wish to be introduced to the vikral-avatar of lady Vinita Bahl ,so here I am back on my laptop after a month to blog about my elusive one.
Come April and my house helps, all three of them vanished for a long vacation. My daily grind and housework woes is not the subject matter of this post ,so you can relax and continue to read further :)
-I explored hidden corners in my own house and found stuff which I had forgotten completely about. Some things were found tied neatly inside a polythene bag and placed beneath the old printer .To think that the said object was on my priority 'to buy' list.
-I found so many wires and cables that if I lay them end to end ,I can connect it to a laptop as far as inside the airport lounge.
- I opened another polythene bag and the next few minutes were spent saving my head from crazy balls flying and bouncing crazily all around.I also realized that it was that simple to make my family laugh!!
-I found ALL my butterfly clips ! I do not need to mention here that they were part of another treasure in yet another plastic bag.
(The list is still under construction ...)
I realized that my full day house help had been stuffing things inside plastic bags all over the house, behind ,under and over the cupboards and lofts.All this, in the name of dusting and cleaning !What she thought was unimportant,promptly got stuffed and kept out of our sight and beyond our reach.
What I did next was to take leave from work ,make sure that Hobbs and son were lost in an interesting gadget exhibition for the whole day and then perform the most difficult task of throwing the unwanted stuff out of the house. The stuff was sorted and the objects that were out of sight for more than three months and were not missed ,were discarded. The Raddiwala was called on the sly and was instructed to take it all away as fast as he could. My home had lost a lot of weight and pleased as a punch on a great mission being successfully accomplished,I sat down with a cup of kadak chai .That is when Hobbs and son rang the doorbell.
The wires ,the non functional old printer and the broken Gameboy had found their way back home with the duo. Sigh!!
What I decided after this whole episode is that I ought to reduce my dependency on the house helps .Every now and then, from now on,I do this one job and many other odd ones around the house ,myself. I can not function without helps but I will definitely not lean on them completely. Your best wishes will be more than welcome :)
Ok you are busy but, try also clearing out the intellectual corners of your brain from where you churn out such a delightful read. I love what you have cooked here. Muah.
ReplyDeleteThanks Janaki :)
DeleteSanjha Chulha perfectly describes the IB group :)
ReplyDeleteI liked your help's idea of packing and keeping things in bags! :D LOL...
I agree, we cant depend on the helps completely! Every few days we do need to take the reins in our hands :)
Yes, I really do not wish to play treasure hunt with any more bags ;)
DeleteAh, that is a job well done. Housekeeping is a never ending zimmedaari. I sometimes don't understand what part of it I must attack first :). I loved your analogy to the sanjha chulha. I wish we had one in cities where we could go and cook together.
ReplyDeleteAgree . Till then, IB hai na :)
DeleteLoved the analogy of the group with Sanjha Chulha, totally agree that is what the IB group is - a place for women to come together, share and exchange ideas, thoughts, feelings.....Best of luck with the helps!
ReplyDeleteYour maid and mine seem to be soul sisters. The things I find in plastic bags...........not funny. One day she might just pack us off into one...I am telling you.
ReplyDeleteThis one touched the soul Sharmila. Thank you is all I can say. Love you.